Pioneer English teacher Betsy van der Zee has been to over 30 ballparks in America and has an undying love for the sport of baseball. Unfortunately, others do not share the same level of appreciation. In baseball, sold-out crowds in ballparks all over America in the 20th century are now becoming empty, with more than half of the sport’s fans over the age of 50.Baseball was invented in the 1830s, and the game quickly caught on for young and old alike, eventually earning the nickname “America’s favorite pastime.” In 1950, more than half of Americans called baseball their favorite sport. However, the arrival and expansion of modern technology has drastically changed those numbers. An ESPN Stats and Info poll conducted in 2014 showed that only 14 percent of Americans called baseball their favorite sport, as opposed to 35 percent who say football is their favorite. So what caused this drastic decline?Pioneer freshman Mac Van Renterghem, who is a casual baseball fan, believes that the decline of the sport is due to its slow pace. “Back in the 1950s, baseball was popular because that generation was used to it,” he said. “People these days don’t like slow moving things because we’re used to high-speed things in our world.”Realizing this, many of baseball’s top-ranking officials have tried to alter the sport to make it appeal to the modern generation, but an evident problem arises each time, mostly among hard-core fans. The pace of games and number of innings played is currently exactly how it was 100 years ago. Taking away those important attributes may “modernize” the game, but many baseball players and fans alike believe that it ruins old traditions. Pioneer freshman and baseball player Austin Jacobs says nothing about the sport should be changed. “Baseball is fine the way it is,” he said. “People these days don’t have much patience, but then they shouldn’t play it.”Another factor in baseball’s decline is the steady rise in the popularity of football. Van Renterghem believes that Americans nowadays simply enjoy the adrenaline of football more than the “waiting game” of baseball. “The vicious hits on the football field draw out adrenaline in players and fans alike, and you don’t know what to expect each play,” he said. The average attendance for an MLB game in 2016 was 30,131, compared to around 70,000 per game in the NFL, according to sports-reference.com. Stadium sizes in the NFL are typically bigger than MLB stadiums, but the contrast is still striking. MLB teams reach around 75 percent of stadium capacity on an average game day, while NFL games average a sellout. Another factor for the lower attendence is baseball’s lengthy 162 game schedule compared to the football’s action packed 16.van der Zee, who has gone to baseball games since elementary school, doesn’t think that non-sellout games dampen the overall environment of the experience. “I like the atmosphere of games because I really enjoy the appreciation for the sport everyone else around me has, and the strategy,” she said.However, some people, including avid baseball fans, believe that some things about the sport have to be changed. van der Zee has an opinion on how to make the games more exciting, “Have less time between pitches,” she said. “They already have less time between pitches in the minor leagues, and I think fans really enjoy that, so the majors should try it as well.”